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> DCMS) had decided to give £12m of grant funding, which Tech Nation had relied on, to Barclays Bank That is absolutely wild.. 12m to a bank surely is pocket c

> DCMS) had decided to give £12m of grant funding, which Tech Nation had relied on, to Barclays Bank That is absolutely wild.. 12m to a bank surely is pocket change. What possible justification did they give for that? They gave the funds instead to Barclays incubator who is a for profit organization. Meaning they will simply push and invest in what is currently making money and not unproven technologies and sciences. This won't end well long term i feel.

WaxProlix 4y ago
I mean, this is contemporary UK politics in a nutshell. Decades of tory (and tory light) rule have gutted programs in search of short-term benefit for ages, we'll see how the country fares but it's not looking pretty.
- Veen 4y ago
  It was the Tories who launched Tech Nation and awarded them the funding in the first place.
  - WaxProlix 4y ago
    And it's thriving under their leadership to this very day!
gumby 4y ago
Consider Sunak’s background.
- toyg 4y ago
  Consider the background of 99% of his party, rather. These decisions are not taken one by one at the top. And this happened in September, under the previous cabbage. Tories be tories.
- gadders 4y ago
  That sounds.. racist. What relevance is the fact that he's of Indian ancestory?
  - triceratops 4y ago
    I think they meant his background as an investment banker.
    - gadders 4y ago
      Barclays made £7b profit last year. Nobody would be stupid enough to claim that the prime minister personally stepped in to get them another £12m (which they will have to give away in grants).
      - gumby 4y ago
        Yes I am pretty sure he never thought "Aha, Barclay's needs £12MM", or even noticed. My point is that he is a perfect synecdoche for his party: reflexively help establishment business and the donor class; ignore the small stuff that could grow large. And cutting anything that encourages immigration is important to the BREXIT wing of his party (which may be all that is left of it).
        gadders 4y ago
        Well, immigration also helps current workers by not lowering wages. Normally big business is in favour of immigration.
        gadders 4y ago
        Ignore the spare "Not" in that sentence.
      - triceratops 4y ago
        It's natural to feel fondness or bias towards one's "own" industry. They're "your" people, you know the field well and can evaluate who's genuine and who isn't. You might believe that it's a force for good in the world. You probably still have friends or professional contacts in the industry.
- _joel 4y ago
  He worked in a parmacy and his father's a doctor... as he likes to parrot.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
stuaxo 4y ago
Completely and utterly on brand for the Tories.
- kurthr 4y ago
  Somebody's gotta hire them when they leave office... might as well be a bank!
kmlx 4y ago
> That is absolutely wild.. 12m to a bank surely is pocket change. What possible justification did they give for that? “Our decision to make the Digital Growth Grant competitive brings the funding into line with the majority of government grants. Barclays Eagle Labs was successful because their application represented the best value for taxpayers’ money, will benefit the most startups and scaleups over the next two years, and was scored highest by an independent panel.”
logifail 4y ago
> That is absolutely wild.. 12m to a bank surely is pocket change. What possible justification did they give for that? I'm no huge fan of Barclays bank (bad experience several decades ago, vowed to never touch them again), but they aren't "giving the money to the bank", it sounds like Barclays is taking over the contract to provide the service.
- madeofpalk 4y ago
  Article says this is not the case > [Barclays] will not, however, take over Tech Nation’s role administering the UK’s global talent visa. Tech Nation has notified the UK’s Home Office that its visa scheme will stop — though it will continue until then. Kind of weird that Tech Nation is notifying the government that a visa program will stop. Does Home Office intend for another org to take over the role of administering tech applicants for the Extraordinary/Global Talent visa?
  - logifail 4y ago
    > Article says this is not the case "the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) put Tech Nation’s contract up for grabs after growing concerned about its reliance on state money"[0] "Barclays’ tech incubator Eagle Labs will use the government grant — which has been awarded for just two years — to launch new programmes to help tech companies"[1] Q: In what sense did Tech Nation "administer" the global talent visa? It seems to be at https://www.gov.uk/global-talent https://www.gov.uk/global-talent - what did Tech Nation have to do with this? [0] https://sifted.eu/articles/barclays-tech-nation-grant-fintech/ https://sifted.eu/articles/barclays-tech-nation-grant-fintec... [1] https://sifted.eu/articles/tech-nation-shutting-down/ https://sifted.eu/articles/tech-nation-shutting-down/
    - madeofpalk 4y ago
      I have this visa, I've been through this process back when it was called Extraordinary Talent. To get the visa you must first get an endorsement from a nominated organisation who's fit to judge your field (academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology). Tech Nation did the endorsements for digital technology. Once you have the endorsement from Tech Nation, the actual visa application done by Home Office is rather simple and is just 'rubber stamping' back in your home country.
r00fus 4y ago
Isn't this a clear-cut example of pure corruption? Who got that kickback to move moneys from a non-profit to a for-profit endeavor?
- unity1001 4y ago
  > Isn't this a clear-cut example of pure corruption? You mistyped 'Tories'. Not that the Tory-lites (the other party) is any better.
Neil44 4y ago
There's more info in the FT article - https://www.ft.com/content/93abf2e2-d484-4edc-b5c9-30999a18b234 https://www.ft.com/content/93abf2e2-d484-4edc-b5c9-30999a18b... The short version is that Barclays Eagle Labs project represented better value for the taxpayer because Barclays absorb the operational costs leaving the taxpayer's 12M to go wholly towards it's intended target. Tech Nation used some of the 12M to run it's self.

WaxProlix 4y ago

I mean, this is contemporary UK politics in a nutshell. Decades of tory (and tory light) rule have gutted programs in search of short-term benefit for ages, we'll see how the country fares but it's not looking pretty.

Veen 4y ago
It was the Tories who launched Tech Nation and awarded them the funding in the first place.
- WaxProlix 4y ago
  And it's thriving under their leadership to this very day!

gumby 4y ago

Consider Sunak’s background.

toyg 4y ago
Consider the background of 99% of his party, rather. These decisions are not taken one by one at the top. And this happened in September, under the previous cabbage. Tories be tories.
gadders 4y ago
That sounds.. racist. What relevance is the fact that he's of Indian ancestory?
- triceratops 4y ago
  I think they meant his background as an investment banker.
  - gadders 4y ago
    Barclays made £7b profit last year. Nobody would be stupid enough to claim that the prime minister personally stepped in to get them another £12m (which they will have to give away in grants).
    - gumby 4y ago
      Yes I am pretty sure he never thought "Aha, Barclay's needs £12MM", or even noticed. My point is that he is a perfect synecdoche for his party: reflexively help establishment business and the donor class; ignore the small stuff that could grow large. And cutting anything that encourages immigration is important to the BREXIT wing of his party (which may be all that is left of it).
      - gadders 4y ago
        Well, immigration also helps current workers by not lowering wages. Normally big business is in favour of immigration.
        gadders 4y ago
        Ignore the spare "Not" in that sentence.
    - triceratops 4y ago
      It's natural to feel fondness or bias towards one's "own" industry. They're "your" people, you know the field well and can evaluate who's genuine and who isn't. You might believe that it's a force for good in the world. You probably still have friends or professional contacts in the industry.
_joel 4y ago
He worked in a parmacy and his father's a doctor... as he likes to parrot.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

stuaxo 4y ago

Completely and utterly on brand for the Tories.

kurthr 4y ago
Somebody's gotta hire them when they leave office... might as well be a bank!

kmlx 4y ago

> That is absolutely wild.. 12m to a bank surely is pocket change. What possible justification did they give for that? “Our decision to make the Digital Growth Grant competitive brings the funding into line with the majority of government grants. Barclays Eagle Labs was successful because their application represented the best value for taxpayers’ money, will benefit the most startups and scaleups over the next two years, and was scored highest by an independent panel.”

logifail 4y ago

> That is absolutely wild.. 12m to a bank surely is pocket change. What possible justification did they give for that? I'm no huge fan of Barclays bank (bad experience several decades ago, vowed to never touch them again), but they aren't "giving the money to the bank", it sounds like Barclays is taking over the contract to provide the service.

madeofpalk 4y ago
Article says this is not the case > [Barclays] will not, however, take over Tech Nation’s role administering the UK’s global talent visa. Tech Nation has notified the UK’s Home Office that its visa scheme will stop — though it will continue until then. Kind of weird that Tech Nation is notifying the government that a visa program will stop. Does Home Office intend for another org to take over the role of administering tech applicants for the Extraordinary/Global Talent visa?
- logifail 4y ago
  > Article says this is not the case "the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) put Tech Nation’s contract up for grabs after growing concerned about its reliance on state money"[0] "Barclays’ tech incubator Eagle Labs will use the government grant — which has been awarded for just two years — to launch new programmes to help tech companies"[1] Q: In what sense did Tech Nation "administer" the global talent visa? It seems to be at https://www.gov.uk/global-talent https://www.gov.uk/global-talent - what did Tech Nation have to do with this? [0] https://sifted.eu/articles/barclays-tech-nation-grant-fintech/ https://sifted.eu/articles/barclays-tech-nation-grant-fintec... [1] https://sifted.eu/articles/tech-nation-shutting-down/ https://sifted.eu/articles/tech-nation-shutting-down/
  - madeofpalk 4y ago
    I have this visa, I've been through this process back when it was called Extraordinary Talent. To get the visa you must first get an endorsement from a nominated organisation who's fit to judge your field (academia or research, arts and culture, or digital technology). Tech Nation did the endorsements for digital technology. Once you have the endorsement from Tech Nation, the actual visa application done by Home Office is rather simple and is just 'rubber stamping' back in your home country.

r00fus 4y ago

Isn't this a clear-cut example of pure corruption? Who got that kickback to move moneys from a non-profit to a for-profit endeavor?

unity1001 4y ago
> Isn't this a clear-cut example of pure corruption? You mistyped 'Tories'. Not that the Tory-lites (the other party) is any better.

Neil44 4y ago

There's more info in the FT article - https://www.ft.com/content/93abf2e2-d484-4edc-b5c9-30999a18b234 https://www.ft.com/content/93abf2e2-d484-4edc-b5c9-30999a18b... The short version is that Barclays Eagle Labs project represented better value for the taxpayer because Barclays absorb the operational costs leaving the taxpayer's 12M to go wholly towards it's intended target. Tech Nation used some of the 12M to run it's self.